Reggie Watts Loves Weird Al, But Chevy Chase? Not So Much
Want to travel through time with Reggie Watts? His new comedy special, NEVER MIND, dropping Saturday on the VEEPS streaming service, takes you on a musical TARDIS back to the 1990s. Watts’ sonic journey, from the POV of the late 20th century, marvels at the dream of instant delivery, how expensive laser printers are and just how much he’s looking forward to Windows 98.
Watts recently talked to me about the new special, his comedy heroes and the perks of hanging with James Corden. Not surprisingly, he revealed that he preferred meeting Dolly Parton to Chevy Chase.
@veepsofficial
“I love the idea of time travel. And I thought that the ‘90s were an interesting time because it was a transition into the modern internet. And I think it’s funny to set (my special) in another time period.”
Don't Miss
“Absurdism and those types of comedy, I don’t think that’s necessarily changed so much since the 1990s. If comedy is topical, it’s definitely going to be different. But on many other levels of physical comedy and absurdity, it hasn’t really changed too much.”
“The nature of the media, the way it looks and the way it’s presented to us, changes the way that we relate to our digital lives. Jokes can change because of that because they start including the language of the internet.”
“(Thanks to the internet), people have the ability to see almost anything you want them to see. In that context, it’s nice to be able to reach out. Comedy has more access to more people than it ever has. That’s the greatest gift of the internet.”
“When I was a kid, the idea of funny music or parody music was a thing. I was doing comedy as a kid, and music is such a great way of portraying humor.”
“Weird Al Yankovic had a huge effect on me. His parody songs — they just shined a light on something you could do with comedy, commenting directly on something in music form.”
“One of the first songs I did was called ‘Clean It,’ which was basically me doing a parody of ‘Beat It’ after Weird Al released ‘Eat It.’ I decided to do ‘Clean It,’ and I think it was a hit with the kids at the playground.”
“Victor Borge was a little bit of an influence, on the music side of things, for sure. And Monty Python too.”
“On Comedy Bang Bang, (the Questions from Reggie segment) just kind of started happening. Scott Aukerman would just call on me. I think that was just a way to include me in the show a little bit more.”
“The Late Late Show basically took that idea. I didn’t suggest it.”
“My favorite Late Late Show moment? There’s been a few, but probably meeting Joan Jett. I didn’t get to actually meet her, but I talked to her through a monitor. Meeting Dolly Parton, for sure. Asking Obama about aliens, that was pretty awesome.
“Chevy Chase was terrible, but other than that, everybody’s been fine. He’s an asshole.”
“He probably was better when he was younger, and I think he might even be on the spectrum. You know, spectrum mixed with a lot of fame and success insulates you from identifying issues and improving them. And so over time, it just got worse. He became much more of a dick as he got older.”
